Stock Photo Secretshttps://www.stockphotosecrets.com
How to Find and Buy Stock PhotosMon, 14 Aug 2017 20:48:35 +0000en-UShourly1How Do Stock Photos Work? Great Beginners Guide to Stock Photographyhttps://www.stockphotosecrets.com/questions-answers/how-do-stock-photos-work-beginners-guide.html
https://www.stockphotosecrets.com/questions-answers/how-do-stock-photos-work-beginners-guide.html#respondFri, 11 Aug 2017 18:30:57 +0000https://www.stockphotosecrets.com/?p=15607Some people only discover the world of stock photos when they first find themselves needing images for a project. A new website for their company, imagery to revamp social media channels, marketing campaigns, and so on. And while many can immediately recognize the value in this resource for creative design and commercial projects, they are often unsure about how stock photos work and how can they be used. Is it your case?

Then you're on the right place! At StockPhotoSecrets we've put together a super simple yet in-depth guide with all you need to know about stock photos, from what they are to how you can benefit from them, to where to get them. Dive in!

How Do Stock Photos Work: A Comprehensive Guide for New Buyers

Stock photos are photographs that you can buy and use in your own projects, without having to commission a photographer and therefore spending much less money and saving a lot of time. Cool, right? Let's get the details straight:

What are Stock Photos?

Stock photos are photographs that are already taken, edited and ready to be used. But are stock images free to use? Big and resounding NO. The photographer or author of a stock photo makes it available for licensing, meaning you can pay a fee to get the right to use it in your designs legally. One of the most popular license types is that of Royalty Free, which gives a wide range of usage rights for a very low cost.

Commonly, authors submit their photos to stock photo agencies, companies that offer big digital catalogs full of images that you can pay for online and download directly from their websites. You buy from the agency, and they split the revenue with the photographer.

Stock images are not limited to photographs, you can find illustrations and vector files, plus video clips, sound tracks, and more.

What are Royalty Free Stock Photos?

You probably guessed this one. They are photos under a Royalty Free license. This license is one of the most popular in the stock photography industry, because of its flexibility and low cost.

Royalty Free license is customized for every agency, but in general terms it gives you the right to use an image in commercial, editorial and personal projects, without any limitations regarding geographic area or duration. Plus, it's a one-time only fee (This is what its name means, which should NEVER be mistaken for them being free photos: Royalty Free photos are NOT FREE).

This means that you pay for the image once, and you get to use it however you want, wherever you want, and for as long as you want. Best is that as the images can be licensed over and over, the license price tends to be very low, within $1 to $15 in average, and even less than $1 each with subscription plans.

It's important to note that what you are buying when you buy stock photos is a license that gives you the right to use them in your work. You are not acquiring ownership of the image, the author still holds the copyright for it.

Where Can I Buy Stock Photos?

The best place to buy stock photos are stock photo agencies, online. The most popular ones have digital libraries with millions of images to choose from, all high quality and ready to be downloaded in a few simple clicks.

Most these catalogs are searchable by keywords and include advanced filters for narrowing results, so you not only have variety in content, but also easy access to it.

Best of all is these companies have very affordable prices, and options to buy images one by one, or in bulk and saving in the long run.

Check our list of the Top Stock Photo Agencies in the market! And to save more money in your purchases, don't miss our exclusive coupon codes for special discounts!

How Can I Use Stock Photos?

When you buy Royalty Free stock photos from reliable agencies, there are very few restrictions to what you can do with them. Here's how to use stock photos legally:

As long as they are labeled for commercial use, you can use stock photos in multiple designs and project with a for-profit purpose, including websites, marketing and advertising, branding, and more. You can also use them in editorial work, such as publications and book illustrations for example. If the photos are labeled as Editorial, you can only use them for this end (never commercially). Learn more about Editorial use here. Plus, with an Extended license (available at most agencies too) you can also use the images in products for resale, earning you potential incomes.

The limitations in usage of stock photos mostly refers to illegal or morally questionable topics. You cannot use images in content that refers to illegal activity or sensitive matters, like racism or violence. And of course you cannot resell or redistribute the photos as they are, to anyone. Remember, you are not the owner of the photos, you only own a license to use them.

What's In for Me in Using Stock Photos?

What is not in for you, should be the question! By using stock photos you can solve a lot of your graphic design needs at once, in a very efficient and low cost solution.

For one, you can get the imagery that you need right away, without having to wait for a photographer to shoot them, edit them and hand them to you. They are online and ready to be downloaded and used.

Secondly, they also save you a lot of money. The cost of hiring a professional photographer to do a custom shoot for you is way, way higher than the $15 or so that you would spend in buying a stock photo. Let alone that if you get a subscription or you buy a bunch of them at once, you can get them for as low as a few cents each.

Using stock photos you can have professional looking designs for your adverts, your website, your presentations and many other projects, without breaking the bank and without taking any legal risks.

It's a super useful resource for small to medium businesses, startups, beginner professionals and any other person needing professional, high quality photography right away and at affordable rates.

A leading stock photo agency and ultimate pioneer in the industry, iStock now brings a new, very useful feature for customers: iStock Editor, a simple web based editing tool that lets you customize any image from their library with a few simple clicks, and at no added cost!

With a very user friendly concept and effective functionality for simple designs, this is a great aid in creating visual content for social media, advertising and web, amongst other popular uses. Try iStock Editor for free!

The new editing tool by iStock is very simple to use, with a straight-forward interface that make it impossible to go wrong. It's a 3-step editing system:

Choose an image

Edit it

Download it

It is accessible from any image in iStock's library: all image pages now include an “Edit this image” button that opens the watermarked preview in the iStock Editor, ready to be customized.

Once in the editor board, you have essential editing functions to apply. iStock Editor lets you:

Crop and resize: it includes useful preset sizes, including horizontal, vertical and square orientation, plus standard sizes for popular social media channels such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest

Add text: the editor gives you 15 different fonts to choose from, with options for size, color, alignment, style and rotation

Filter: you have 11 filters to change the aspect of the images, including popular Instagram-like ones such as Sepia or Warmer styles

Add logos or graphics: you can also integrate your personal logos or graphic elements, with a very simple uploading feature

Like this, you can create an image to use in your company's Facebook and Twitter, or a cool graphic to boost up your Instagram account, in a few simple clicks! You initially work with the watermarked version of the image, but as soon as you're happy with the design you can hit the download button and the final, unwatermarked and edited photo will be right there for you.

]]>https://www.stockphotosecrets.com/news/istock-editor-free-image-editor.html/feed0Where can I compare image prices for stock photos?https://www.stockphotosecrets.com/buyers-guide/where-can-i-compare-image-prices-for-stock-photos.html
https://www.stockphotosecrets.com/buyers-guide/where-can-i-compare-image-prices-for-stock-photos.html#respondMon, 07 Aug 2017 08:00:45 +0000https://www.stockphotosecrets.com/?p=185
Buying stock photos is easy, but deciding where to buy can be a lot tougher. Comparing prices is one of the simplest ways to find the best stock photo agency for you, but now there are lots of companies in the industry, many of them with really good deals, what gives you a lot to consider when doing a stock photo price comparison.

There is a better way: there are different services that dedicate specifically to collect, index and cross-compare prices for stock photos across all the main and most serious suppliers on the web. Using these price comparison tools it's a lot easier to find the right agency for you. Discover them!

Best Stock Photo Price Comparison Tools

These services gather all the relevant pricing info, analyzing it and delivering quick comparative results on the fly, saving you the hassle to check every site manually and letting you make informed purchases rather than bling guessing. Check them out:

EveryPixel by Pressfoto Group

Backed by the experience and reputation of Pressfoto Group (a Russian stock media company with its own stock photo agency), EveryPixel is an intelligent image search engine service that lets you search and compare images from over 50 agencies in one place.

Using the latest artificial intelligence technology, this platform lets you search images based on keywords or a sample image you supply, and further filter them for free or paid sources, microstock or premium, included advanced options like orientation and color search.

The best is that for every image they display the prices for all the agencies said image is available in, offering pricing details according to size, and including minimum purchase requirements. All prices are expressed in dollars, making it a very useful tool to determine where to buy the photo you want, at the best possible price.

BuyMicrostock Agency Filter by StockPhotoPress

BuyMicrostock is a website part of StockPhotoPress, a media power house managing a network of over a dozen online publications dedicated to stock photography and stock media (which includes StockPhotoSecrets, MyStockPhoto and VectorGuru among others). But BuyMicrostock is fully centered in, you guessed, buyers. It aims at providing precise and straight-forward info and resources to buy stock photos cheap and easy.

One of said resources is a very cool Agency Comparison feature. This section includes dedicated reviews on most relevant image banks in the web, and lets you use a series of advanced filters to narrow your options.

Filters include deals and offers (such as freebies and exclusive discounts), buying methods, media types, payment options, license models, exclusive content… and of course, price: there are two sliding bar filters for average price per image divided in single purchase and subscription alternatives, plus options for number of downloads in subscription plans.

This is a very simple way to know which agencies offer the range of prices and the kind of content you are after, letting you further know more details on them in dedicated reviews.

]]>https://www.stockphotosecrets.com/buyers-guide/where-can-i-compare-image-prices-for-stock-photos.html/feed0Where to Buy Images for Websites – Save with Stock Photos!https://www.stockphotosecrets.com/questions-answers/buy-images-for-websites.html
https://www.stockphotosecrets.com/questions-answers/buy-images-for-websites.html#respondThu, 03 Aug 2017 20:23:15 +0000https://www.stockphotosecrets.com/?p=15582So you want to build a website for your company or business, or maybe for your personal career promotion. You want to start a blog and share content that you're passionate and knowledgeable about. Or maybe you already have one of these, but you want to revamp it and make it better. The answer? Stock photos! But where to buy images for websites? Where to buy images for commercial use? Are all suppliers the same? Are all photos legal to use on a site?

We have all the answers! Dive in to know what is the best source for photos to use in your sites without breaking them bank.

Where to Buy Images for Websites

Online! Where else? Stock photo agencies and stock photo services online are one of the best resources to buy images to use in your own sites. It's simple, quick, and in the best suppliers, also very cheap.

Here are the best places to buy images online!

1. PixelRockstar (WordPress)

PixelRockstar is a stock photo service for WordPress, one of the most popular website and blog creation tools in the web, with over 76.5 million blogs and around 15 million websites built on this platform to date. How to stand out in this mobbed space? Well, with great content of course, but also with superb images that make your blog or site look beautiful, modern and catch the attention of users.

If you are a publisher using WordPress, I don't have to tell you about the hassle it can be to add photos to your articles and pages. Let alone finding cool imagery that is cheap, legal to use and high quality altogether.

PixelRockstar is a stock photo service that solves all of those issues in one simple, elegant and convenient product. This is a WordPress plugin that integrates a library of over 4 million high quality blog images, covering the most current and varied themes and styles, that you can easily search, download and add to your articles with a few simple clicks of your mouse.

Working on an anual pack system that ranges from 10 to 350 downloads, you pay for the amount of photos you want, and use them whenever you want within one year. Prices are very reasonable specially considering the slick functionality, falling between $9 and $200 per year. And the best is that all images are legally verified, and they come with a custom Digital License that covers usage in websites, publishing and digital supporting material such as social media entries.

2. Bigstock (Wix)

Bigstock is a reputable stock photo agency with years in the market, and is owned by Shutterstock, one of the giants of stock photo industry. With a collection of over 55 million royalty free stock images, they are a good option to buy images for websites if you use Wix as your CMS: Bigstock and Wix have a partnership going on since a couple years, that makes it much easier to add images from Bigstock into your Wix based sites.

This agency has high quality images in various resolutions, and offers them on demand with credit packs and also under subscriptions. Their prices are very affordable, with no image costing more than $15 and as cheap as under $0.50 per download in the best deal.

If you are running a website in Wix and you want photos to use in it, Bigstock is worth giving a try. Their low prices added to being integrated in the website builder platform make it cheap and easy to get cool images in less time. Sign up for Bigstock here! And save more in your photos with our great Bigstock Coupon!

3. Stock Photo Secrets Shop (All website builders)

Our StockPhotoSecrets Shop is a great place to get images for websites, specially if you're working on a limited budget, since that is our specialty. We have a catalog with over 4 million high quality images that not only cover popular themes and styles but also meet web usage standards. And with our Royalty Free license you are allowed to use any photo from our library in websites including those with a commercial purpose. A great alternative if you want to buy images cheap!

All of our download plans are tailored for small to medium businesses, and we have convenient on demand image packs, as well as great deals with monthly subscriptions. Moreover, we have a star annual pack that gives you images at super low prices. Ranging from $7.80 and down to $0.16 per download depending on the purchasing model you choose, our images are very affordable!

4. Shutterstock (All website builders)

One of the pioneer stock photo agencies and of the best stock photo sites, Shutterstock is also a great source for images for websites. While not specialised in this usage, their Royalty Free images are legally suitable for use in web, for most kinds of commercial purposes.

While not directly integrated into any CMS, Shutterstock hosts a library of over 100 million images on their site, with an advanced and simple to use search tool, and all their photos are easily downloaded into your local storage from where you can import them to your website builder of choice.

Shutterstock images are high quality, and they are very cheap. You can buy them in image packs or via subscriptions, and they range between $14,50 and $0.26 per download depending on which system you use to buy.

Getty Images is one of the most renowned stock photography agencies in the world, with decades in business since the early days of traditional, printed stock photo catalogs and all the way to their current online platform with millions of images available for licensing. They work with both Rights Managed and Royalty Free licenses, and they have a whole section of Editorial only content for publishing purposes. Their prices are higher than at other outlets, but it's reasonable given their premium imagery and service.

If you're a WordPress user, you will like to learn that this agency has a WordPress plugin with very cool benefits. For one, it lets you explore Getty Images content without leaving your WP layout. But here's what's interesting: you can use images from a selection of 66 million editorial only content, for free! As long as you use them in your publication for non-commercial purposes, you can use any of those photos via the embedding function, free of charge.

If you are a paid customer to Getty Images you will also access to the libraries covered by your account, and you'll be allowed to license, download and apply photos from the collections into your website with a few simple clicks.

6. Adobe Stock (All website builders)

Adobe Stock is a stock photo service offered by Adobe, that is deeply integrated with their Creative Cloud platform. They have a collection with well over 60 million images under Royalty Free license, suitable for web usage.

The strong point in this service is the integration with Creative Cloud applications, that lets you complete your design process in less time and in a simple, seamless way. Their library is varied and they have all high-quality photos and illustrations that meet standards for using in websites. Prices are also very affordable, starting at $9.99 and as low as $0.26 per download depending on the subscription package you get.

Enhance your Website with Awesome, Cheap Photos

Using any of the above services you are sure to get the high quality, beautiful imagery that will make your website look professional and attractive to your potential customers, at the best possible prices and with the best functionality.

No matter what CMS you work with, there are stock photo options for every one of them!

Which one will you use?

]]>https://www.stockphotosecrets.com/questions-answers/buy-images-for-websites.html/feed0Top 3 Stocksy Alternatives to Buy Exclusive Artsy Imageshttps://www.stockphotosecrets.com/buyers-guide/stocksy-alternatives.html
https://www.stockphotosecrets.com/buyers-guide/stocksy-alternatives.html#respondMon, 17 Jul 2017 19:12:20 +0000https://www.stockphotosecrets.com/?p=15514Do you love Stocksy? If so, it means you are after photos that are artsy, unique, creative, unexpected, and exclusive. That is after all what you can find in Stocksy's stock photo library. But are you also looking for some options when it comes to find this kind of imagery? You wonder where else can you buy stock photos that are more artistic, higher valued and unique? You've come to the right place, as we are bringing you the best Stocksy Alternatives to buy exclusive stock photos!

Stocksy is a niche stock photo agency, known for its somehow reduced collection of artistic and modern styled imagery, sourced from a selected pool of exclusive photographer contributors. Given the nature of their offer, their prices are higher than those of the bigger and more traditional stock photo agencies.

While Stocksy's offer and business model makes them distinct from the rest, you may be surprised to know there are in fact several other suppliers offering a comparable service, including some of the most popular image banks of our days. Ready to discover them?

Stocksy and Stocksy Alternatives in Stock Photos

Stocksy United is a stock photo agency that is a bit different than most of the others in the space. That difference is what makes most of their customers choose them, and likely it's why you like them too. To know what are the best alternatives to buy photos like Stocksy's, let's first clear out some questions about what Stocksy is and what they do. Shall we?

What is Stocksy – Stocksy United is a stock photo agency selling Royalty Free imagest that are exclusive to their collection, coming from photographers whom sell their work only through Stocksy.

Who owns Stocksy – None others than the folks who founded iStock over a decade ago (back then named iStockphoto).

What does Stocksy offer – A small, highly curated and very exclusive collection of images with a more artsy and out of the ordinary aesthetic, and superb quality.

What are Stocksy prices – Images range from $15 to $125 each, depending on size. There are no subscription options nor volume discounts.

What is Stocksy business model – Stocksy works as a cooperative business, where every photographer contributing their images to the collection is also a shareholder in the company, receiving both a royalty for every time one of their own images sell, but also a percentage in total profits at the end of every year. And they have a certain incidence in decision making when it comes to the directions and actions the company shall take.

This is what makes Stocksy so different, unique and exclusive. For more info, read our Stocksy review.

The Top Stocksy Alternatives to Buy Artistic Stock Photos

So, are there any other agencies where to get photos like the ones Stocksy have? In fact, there are. And some are a bit more flexible and offer some additional perks. Here you have them:

Photocase

This is a stock photo agency based in Germany, which is very similar to Stocksy in its image style and principles, and is in fact much older than the latter. Photocase was founded as an image sharing platform back in 2001, and became a stock photo agency not long after that. With so many years in business, they are certainly a reliable alternative.

Photocase has always specialized in artistic, non-standard imagery. Basically, photos that don't look like your typical “stock photo”. Plus, they do a very tight selection of content, and keep their library intentionally small. They curate photos into themed collections that you can browse on their homepage, and they have a search tool as well. Here's more details:

Image prices range from €10 to €20 per photo, depending on image size

No subscription options

Credit packs for bulk purchase discounts between 9% and 44%. Credits never expire

And you know what's best? At StockPhotoSecrets we have an exclusive Photocase Coupon Code that gives you 25% Off + 3 Free Credits! How's that for a Stocksy Alternative?!

iStock Signature

If you know Stocksy, then you likely must have heard of iStock. Beside being the first photo agency Stocksy's founders created 16 years ago, iStock is one of the most popular stock photo companies of our times, and have been leading the industry since years.

But did you know they have images that are par to Stocksy's? They do. Although they have a much, much larger library and cater more to the masses, iStock puts a lot of value in their image curation, and they have a highly valued Signature collection with millions of unique, more artistic and professionally shot photos that are exclusive to their agency. Here's more on this offer:

Images are priced individually, in credits: 3 credits per image

You can buy on demand credit packs that take image price from $33 and down to $24 each. iStock credits never expire

Subscriptions are available, with plans from 10 and up to 750 images per month, taking image price down to as little as $0.42 per download (certainly a huge price gap with Stocksy!)

Get 10% OFF on all iStock Credits for ALL iStockphoto customers, even existing ones!

Stocksy Collection in Adobe Stock

Yes, you read it right. This alternative to Stocksy is actually… Stocksy. No, we haven't lost our mind. You'll see, Stocsky partners with Adobe Stock, an awesome stock photo service offered by Adobe that integrates a huge library of stock imagery right into Creative Cloud platform and all its applications.

Via this partnership, a selection of Stocksy photos are made available within Adobe Stock Premium collection, a gallery of high quality, artistic and prestigious imagery that has a higher price point than the rest of the catalog and is only available on demand. What's the difference between this and just buying from Stocksy directly? Well, a huge one: Stocksy Collection in Adobe Stock is available right into your favorite design apps. While the purchase method and the pricing may not be so different, Adobe Stock adds other huge benefits:

Image prices between $199,99 and $249,99 according to size

No subscription options, but all images come with Extended License by default, granting extra usage rights

Buy Compelling, High End Photos with Stocksy Alternatives

If you are in love with the Stocksy style, their peculiar business model and their dedicated aesthetics, you're certainly right to stay with them.

But if you are looking for options to get the same kind of content, cheaper or with greater options and benefits, our list of Stocksy Alternatives is exactly what you need. At any of these stock photo agencies you will find the photos you love so much, and extra flexibility in content, pricing or functionality.

Enjoy your artistic stock photos!

]]>https://www.stockphotosecrets.com/buyers-guide/stocksy-alternatives.html/feed0iStock reduces Collections and changes Prices for better (UPDATE)https://www.stockphotosecrets.com/news/istock-reduces-collections-prices.html
https://www.stockphotosecrets.com/news/istock-reduces-collections-prices.html#respondMon, 17 Jul 2017 09:46:25 +0000https://www.stockphotosecrets.com/?p=10152UPDATED August 1st, 2017: Very good news to our readers! We have a special, limited-time iStock Promo Code for you. Up until September 30, 2017 you will get 15% off in all your iStock Subscriptions! Even more, we also have an iStock Promo Code that gives you 10% off in all your credit packs!

Seize this limited-time deal and buy an annual subscription to maximize your savings! Plus, you can take advantage of the credit packs discount in the long run too: iStock Credits never expire! Buy them now and download great stock photos whenever you want!

Grab this special iStock promo code before it's too late!

iStock Promo Code 2017 – 15% OFF on Subscriptions for ALL Customers

Get 15% OFF in your iStock Subscription today.

iStock Promo Code 2017 – 10% OFF on Credit Packs for ALL Customers

Get 10% OFF in your iStock Credit Packs today and use them whenever you want, they never expire!

As has been announced two weeks ago (you can still read the news below), iStock has changed its pricing basis over the last weekend. The new prices are in effect now, and if you had old credits left in your account, they were most likely converted at this stage.

The new prices at iStock

With the new pricing (click here to open them in a new window), credits have become pricier but also more valuable. All images in iStock are priced individually in credits for on demand buying, but now they are no longer priced according to size and resolution. The new pricing differentiates images by collection, be it Essential images (which are not exclusive to iStock) and the iStock exclusive collection called Signature. Those terms were introduced with the subscription offer in spring and are now being used across the board.

We have got our hands on some neat iStock promo codes for you. You can save up to 15% on iStock subscriptions and 10% in credit packs, which makes it easier to spend money on their new pricing. Just make sure to copy the codes and then click on the redeem link.

New Credit Packs and Pricing

The base package contains 1 credit for $12 (the base price for individual credits), which buys you one Essential image. Further packages usually can be divided by 3 because that is the price in credits for Signature images at iStock. With 18 credits – priced at $170 – you could therefore download 18 Essential images or 6 Signature images, or anything in between, with over 21% off compared to base credit price.

When you visit the pricing page at iStock, the credit packs list starts at 3 and finishes at 60 credits. But if you want to buy less or more credits, make sure to open the full list of packages available by clicking the “View all credit packs” button below the initial table, to find a comprehensive offer ranging from 1 to 300 credits. The discounts start steep with 8,5% on the 3 credit package compared to the base pack, therefore you should carefully consider if buying more at once will be a better deal for you. The largest pack available reduces credit price by around 35%.

It's also worth noticing that in a further update iStock made their credits valid forever, as long as the customer logs in to their accounts once a year after purchase date. This means you can buy credits now and use them whenever you want.

The new iStock pricing is easy to compare with the main competitor, Shutterstock's offer: The minimum price is more affordable at iStock, as the 1 credit package comes for $12 while at Shutterstock the minimum purchase is $29 for two images. Then again, for larger needs the 5 Image Pack at Shutterstock comes for $49, slightly less than $10 per image. To achieve that level of pricing, you would have to buy 18 credits at iStock for $175. Plus there is the question how many of the Signature collection images you will end up downloading as those images come at 3 times the base price of your package.

Shutterstock pricing overview

The subscription packages offered at iStock are showing a similar difference: The Essentials subscription comes at $166 in comparison to Shutterstock's $199 pricing (based on an annual subscription in both cases). In case you want to have access to iStock's Signature collection as well, you will have to choose the higher priced subscription for $333 a month.

So in all cases you are now having a choice to make: In some cases, iStock now definitely has a better price to offer – but if you want to get all of the iStock imagery, you will have to pay a certain surcharge compared to Shutterstock.

Changes at iStock (ANNOUNCEMENT – UPDATE ABOVE)

The changes where announced on the 4th September 2014 and these are all the news about the changes before we posted the update.

As microstock inventor and Getty Images subsidiary iStock has just announced, they are planning a complete overhaul of their collection, pricing and payment system. The key elements are to simplify the search and purchase experience for the customers.

Announcement of the exchange of credits

The system using “credits” which was introduced in 2002 and helped iStock in licensing images at small fees, will be renewed, existing balances will be changed to the new system around September 13, 2014.

Less credits, more value

The new credit system iStock is to raise the value of the credits. To reflect this, existing customer balances will be changed from the old credits to the new credits with a exchange rate of 5:1 – as an effect you will see a reduction of your credit balance but the new credits will have a higher value when it comes to purchasing image licenses.

In the new system, one credit will serve as the base price to license images whereas today the license price can reach anywhere from 2 to 150 credits, depending on collection and size of the image.

The base price for the new credits will be $15 for the smallest packages. Larger packages will get a discount, lowering the price per credit down to $8. Though package size have not been announced, there has been a hint that the minimum sale will be a “one credit” package, basically allowing to buy single images without any leftovers in your account. Until now, the single image sale is only possible with direct payment which also contains a premium of up to 50% on the image price.

Simplified collections and pricing per image, not by size

After the reduction from seven to four collections last year, iStock is taking another step in simplifying their offer by now offering only two collections: They will be called “Essentials” and “Signature“, in line with the two subscription offers introduced earlier this year.

The Essentials collection will mainly contain the imagery of contributors who are also distributing the same content through other popular microstock agencies. Whereas the new Signature collection will contain all the higher value content exclusive to iStock and the Getty Images family, including the former premium collections Signature+ and Vetta.

Prices will be one new credit for each image in the Essentials collection and three new credits for Signature imagery. The Signature+ and Vetta imagery was priced at 30 or up to 150 credits in the past, those images will become available at a much lower price point in the future.

Contrary to now, there will no longer be a size based pricing, customers can easily choose any size they need for their projects at the same price. There will also be a possibility to “upgrade” from small sizes to larger resolutions after the change (only for images licensed after the change, older downloads can only be downloaded at the size that was originally licensed).

Those pricing levels will be the same for Vector illustrations. Video files will be priced at 6 credits (Essentials) and 18 credits (Signature/Vetta) in the future.

Simplification for more flexibility

“With the changes you are about to see on iStock, we are disrupting our current business model to go back to our roots, back to the basics. Simplifying is what we did best when we started – affordable prices and great content. Content found only from iStock. We are adapting to the changing market the way we always have so customers don’t need to settle for the same commodity content available on all those other stock sites.”

All the mentioned changes are supposed to be applied at or shortly after September 13, 2014. iStock has announced that they will take their servers offline during that weekend to apply all the necessary changes.

]]>https://www.stockphotosecrets.com/news/istock-reduces-collections-prices.html/feed0iStockphoto Review (now iStock)https://www.stockphotosecrets.com/agencies/istockphoto-review.html
https://www.stockphotosecrets.com/agencies/istockphoto-review.html#commentsWed, 12 Jul 2017 14:25:08 +0000https://www.stockphotosecrets.com/?p=1104iStockphoto.com (now iStock by Getty Images – read all about the name and ownership change here)is one of the top stock photography agencies, and nothing less than the pioneer in the Microstock image industry.

Besides it's impeccable reputation, iStock has an impressively large selection of stock photos, video, illustrations, vectors and audio files that are highly curated with the highest quality standards, and they add value with a collection of exclusive content. With the amount of experience and largest stock photo library of exclusive images, this stock agency is certainly worth considering if you are looking for royalty-free images that are both affordable and high quality.

We have an amazing iStockphoto promo code to save up to 15% in your purchase with them, which you can find below:

A Highly Curated Library with Millions of Stock Photos for Every Buyer Need

iStock was the first “microstock” agency, inaugurating the business model where companies offered stock photos on an online searchable library, under Royalty Free license and with a micropayment (a minimum payment) requirement. They were soon followed by several other companies, and today they have many competitors. But iStock found the way to remain distinctive: adding value to their offer via their unique image curation.

Today, this agency offers a massive catalog with millions and millions of photos, vectors and illustrations, divided in two main collections:

Essentials – Hosts a huge selection of high quality images for everyday design needs, covering the most popular themes and topics, and at a very affordable price

Signature – Includes a large volume of images with higher production value and artistic worth, that are exclusive to iStock, which also makes them more unique and less widely used. Signature images come at a higher price point, but still very reasonable

Like this, iStock has an image for every buyer need. If you want budget photos that can be used in professional designs, Essentials is for you. And if you want more artistic, first-class imagery and are willing to spend a little more to get them, you fill find what you're looking for in Signature collection. Learn more about iStock's collections here.

Their credit system is very simple. They price all their files in credits, and they sell you credit packs that you pay upfront, and later use to download the images you want. The bigger the credit pack, the less each individual credit cost and therefore the cheaper each photo will be. They have packs from 3 and up to 300 credits, making each credit cost from $12 and as low as $8 each.

One of the best things about iStock is they don't price their photos according to resolution or size, but rather according to collection.

Essential images are just 1 credit each ($8 – $12)

Signature images are 3 credits each ($24 – $33)

Want to buy iStock photos with credits? You can now get them at cut price with our special iStock Promo Code with 10% Off in all Credit purchases!

Another great, more recently added feature is the quick checkout: if you only want to buy one image, you can simply hit the download button on that image page and you're taken directly to the payment page, skipping the step of buying the necessary credit pack. The price is the same, but you do it much quicker!

Monthly plans have small volume options, starting at just 10 and up to 250 images a month, price ranging between $40 and $199 for Essentials plans, and from $100 to $399 for full collection including Signature. Annual plans give you an even better price, with higher volume limits from 50 and up to 750 downloads per month. Essentials fall between $89 and $160, and Signature + Essentials is from $189 to $320. This means up to hundreds of photos every month, costing as little as $0.21 each! See iStock full Plans and Pricing here.

It's worth to note that iStock's Essentials collection is par to many of other stock photo agency's catalogs, and their subscription plans are much cheaper. While at most other image banks a 750 downloads plan costs $200 – $250 per month, Essentials plan is only $160!

Perks in iStock Offer: Easy Search

iStock adds user functionality to make their offer a very convenient one for buyers. Mainly, they take care of making all their photos easy to find. For this, they have a fantastic built-in, keyword-driven search tool.

Using their own controlled vocabulary, they deliver results very fast based in keywords you can enter in a dedicated search field on their site. This field is complete with an auto-suggest feature that throws popular searches matching what you're typing. Once in the search page you can you can use advanced functions to sort your results. By default, your most relevant results will be displayed first with automatically differing images rather than the same image replicated in different iterations. But you can also sort by popularity or newness. Plus, you can filter results by collection, license type, people (or the absence of), composition and there is even a handy color chart which shows you images relevant to any color you want!

Flexible Royalty Free Licensing

All images in iStock are available under a Standard Royalty Free license which grants perpetual use in multiple projects, without any geographic limitations, and for commercial, editorial or personal purposes. It's very flexible, and affordable: you pay once and you get to use the photo forever, always within the accepted terms. All images come with Standard License by default, and prices expressed in their website correspond to this option.

There's very few restrictions to image usage with this license. Mainly, the print run is limited to 500,000 copies, and you're not allowed to use the photo in products for resale, be them physical or digital.

They have Extended Licenses available, at a higher price point of 18 credits (added to regular image price), which eliminate some of the main restrictions in Standard RF license, but each extended right is sold as a separate license, letting you add as many as you wish: unlimited print run, use in physical products for resale, multi-seat (allowing more than one person to work with the photos), use in digital templates for resale, and greater legal guarantee coverage.

To help you understand which license you need, they have this very useful guideline:

The Summary of our iStock Review

iStock (former iStockphoto) is not only a pioneer company but also one of the leaders in the stock photo industry since the beginning, and there's good reasons for this.

For one, they have been around for 17 years now, and this history adds to their reputation to give you the tranquility of knowing you're dealing with experienced professionals and acquiring a serious and reliable service.

Equally important, they offer many things that other image banks do not have. Their exclusive collection being the main one, followed by their high standards curation. With iStock you are certain to get the best imagery in the industry, as they offer only high quality, carefully reviewed content. And you can buy exclusive photos that are more unique and will increase the value in your designs. Plus, their prices are very affordable, their buying options are convenient, and their licensing terms are flexible.

iStock has a lot of positives for customers, which makes many buyers choose them when they want to get stock photos for their projects. They have a loyal base of clients and of contributor photographers. And after reading this, you may be one of them too!

What is a Adobe Max? Oh, just one of the creative industry's major events, run by one of the strongest media technology companies in the world! It's three days packed with expert presentations, tutorial sessions, keynotes and product releases by Adobe, along with a golden opportunity for networking and connecting with high-end industry people. And guess what? We at StockPhotoSecrets brought you the chance to win a FREE ticket for the full Adobe Max 2017 conference (worth $1295)! All you have to do is join our Raffle right here!

An event that gives you inspiration, information and technical knowledge all at once, Adobe Max will once again play host to representatives from some of the biggest companies in the industry this year. And as in previous years, you can expect exciting announcements on Adobe products and services. Being present is definitely going to give you an edge over your competitors!

Why Attend Adobe Max?

Few events in the media creative industry are as attend-worthy as Adobe Max is. Starting from the impeccable reputation of the organizer (none other than the design software giant Adobe), to the high-class professionalism in its speakers and presenters, this massive creative gathering hosting 11,000 attendees from 62 countries is a phenomenal opportunity to get yourself ahead of the creative business and make relevant connections with people most important to your work.

Covering the 18th to the 20th of October, Adobe Max offers fantastic training courses, expert keynotes and technical presentations towards different members of the industry, such as Photographers, Graphic Designers, Art and Film Directors and more.

As you can see, assisting to Adobe Max is a golden opportunity for any creative who is both passioned and serious about their work. You get inspired by new developments and possibilities in creative technology, you get priceless tips and insights from industry experts, and you get to socialize and network with relevant people in your field.

Win a Free Ticket to Adobe Max 2017!

The Full Conference Pass that gives you access to all the sessions for the whole three days of the Adobe Max 2017 event has a cost of $1295… But StockPhotoSecrets brings you the chance to win one Full Conference Pass completely free!

How? Easy! Simply click on this link and join our Raffle! Here's how to do it:

Done! You are now participating for a chance to win a free ticket for Adobe Max 2017 with Full Conference Pass!

BONUS: Share your “lucky URL” link with minimum 3 of your friends to get a higher chance to win!

You can get higher chances of winning just by sharing your individual Raffle link with your friends and contacts as well. There's time until July 31st, so hurry up.

Our proud winner will be announced on August 1st! Will it be you?

]]>https://www.stockphotosecrets.com/news/win-free-ticket-adobe-max-2017.html/feed015% OFF iStock Promo Code – Save BIG in 2017 at iStockphotohttps://www.stockphotosecrets.com/offers/istock-promo-code.html
https://www.stockphotosecrets.com/offers/istock-promo-code.html#commentsThu, 29 Jun 2017 03:20:16 +0000https://www.stockphotosecrets.com/?p=9295UPDATED 29th of June, 2017: Stock Photo Secrets and iStock bring you awesome discounts in stock photos! Get up to 15% off in your purchase at iStockphoto with our exclusive promo codes. Buy an iStock subscription for up to hundreds of downloads every month at super discount price with 15% off for all new and existing cusomers! Plus, iStock lets you buy as many credits as you like as new customer and existing customer and with our 10% discount you can save big. Prepare yourself for 2017 and even 2018 with beautiful new imagery! You can take advantage of this offer long-term: iStock credits never expire! Buy now and use whenever you want!

iStock Promo Code 2017

EXCLUSIVE Offer: 15% Off on iStock Subscriptions for ALL Customers

Get 15% OFF on iStock Subscriptions when you sign up today.

Offer: 10% Off on iStock Credits for ALL Customers

Get 10% OFF on all iStock Credits for ALL iStockphoto customers, even existing ones!

Usually iStockphoto promo code will only last a short period or give you a maximum discount of 15%. But our exclusive iStockphoto coupon code for 2017 will give sometimes 15% off on their yearly iStock subscriptions – so redeem it now! iStockphoto just announced their new iStock subscription program, which will replace the Thinkstock subscriptions in the future. Thats why we do not have any Thinkstock coupon codes anymore. If you still after iStockphoto credits then just use the 10% discount code for old and new customers.

Expired iStock Promo Code

Screenshots

Choose your credit pack to buy. You will be asked to login or create a free account with iStock stock photo agency. You would need to provide Billing & Shipping information to proceed further.

Right in the end of this Billing & Shipping Step, well below the fields where you fill-in your personal details you can find the iStock promo code box to enter CM2PC46Njust above the VAT information.

The iStock promo code will be applied during your next (Payment) stage where you would need to provide your credit card details (VISA, MasterCard, American Express, etc) or use your PayPal account if you prefer to do so.

Congratulations – you have just saved 15% on your purchase

EXCLUSIVE: We recommend buying 60 or more iStock credits for a better deal!

Video Tutorial

Why to go with iStock?

iStock is a stock photo agency (previously iStockphoto) and we have dedicated numerous articles here at Stock Photo Secrets for our readers. This stock photo agency has been around over a decade now and it is one of the popular flocking points for the substantial army of photographers and graphic designers. For in-depth analysis and up-to-date feature list you can read an updated review of iStock stock photo agency while here we will present just highlights.

Best content at the right price is guaranteed

iStock provides several options to obtain images and graphic designs but for the best value for the money one can use download credits. The iStock promo code that we are featuring offers substantial savings on download credits. Everyone can benefit from their upgraded price filters to find a better match for their search or budget.

Lower Prices are a fact at iStock stock photo agency

Half of iStock imagery is now half the price, and their new sliding price filter can help the potential customer to stay on a required budget. They also have plenty of creative content which is exclusive to iStock and can’t be found anywhere else, so there’s no need to look around for the best deal.

Faster Search with reliable results

At iStock finding the perfect image just got a lot easier, thanks to recent search upgrades. Their streamlined grid and rollover can help focus on the image and most crucial info, while their improved search results can give us more of exactly what we are looking for.

Best Content is the standard at iStock

When it comes to searching for the perfect image, quality beats quantity every time. So iStock has “Editors’ Pick” icons and “Only from iStock” badges to help us get straight to their very best content.

Are you looking for cheap, high-quality images for you creative projects? One of the leading stock photo websites off iStock promo code to let you avail of discounted purchases and subscription plans. With millions of royalty-free images, illustrations and graphics, iStock offers premium visuals at ridiculously great prices. If you are looking for a website with incredible stock and flexible pricing, you should visit iStock.

iStock is powered by Getty Images. Started in 2000, it is first micropayment photography website. Over the years, it has catered to the needs of both buyers and contributors, saving them from legal issues involving copyrights. Now, the website has become one of the most successful and profitable in the industry.

Rates and Pricing

iStock offers flexible rates to its customers. It is available in pay per download credits and subscription plans. You can download the images, illustrations, videos and vectors you need with credits. Of course, if you buy more, you will save more. However, if you want to have additional savings, you can get iStock promo codes and enjoy loads of discounts.

Subscription plans also give you the best rates for photos, illustrations and vectors. Unfortunately, videos and music clips are not included in any plan. You have the choice to get the monthly or annual plan. All of the images are Standard License. However, Extended Licenses are not available to the subscription plan.

iStock subscription plans are available in Essential and Signature subscriptions. The former includes the website’s most affordable subscription plans. Of course, signature images are not included. You can get 250 images for the price $199. On the other hand, Signature Subscription gives you access to all images in iStock. Considered as the premium subscription, it offers the more expensive 250 images for $399.

Despite the high costs of images, you can still get the images you need for your creative projects. Yes. That’s right! There are a number of websites affiliated with iStock that offer iStock promo codes to help you lower your costs, save more money and increase your profits. Be careful with which you get your promo codes from as a lot of pretentious online companies scatter over the Internet.

Low Prices at iStock

iStock allows you to explore millions of high quality images at very low prices. The website has diversified rates that adjust to your download needs and budget. Are you a student, blogger, or businessperson? Whatever your occupation is, you will surely find iStock favorable to your creative needs. Moreover, you can use promo codes to get the images at much discounted prices.

What are you waiting for? Get your iStock promo codes 2017 now!

ONLY TILL WEDNESDAY: Save 20% on Credits Now

EXCLUSIVE Offer: 15% Off on iStock Subscriptions for ALL Customers

Get 15% OFF on iStock Subscriptions when you sign up today.

Offer: 10% Off on iStock Credits for ALL Customers

Get 10% OFF on all iStock Credits for ALL iStockphoto customers, even existing ones!

Envato Elements is a creative assets service that works under an unlimited downloads subscription, a great fit for designers and creatives using multiple media formats in their work. Already offering a large selection of vectors, templates, fonts and other graphic elements, now they are adding hundreds of thousands of high quality stock photos to complete their multimedia offer!

Part of Envato's platform, Elements features a large collection with thousands of graphic assets, all hand-picked from Envato's network of specific media marketplaces. This service aims at helping with a critical aspect of your creative workflow: saving you time in finding and using great stock imagery for your designs.

With a simple and straight-forward membership system, this service lets you grab all the content that you need to create awesome designs, all in one place. The best? It's very affordable. Even better? Now includes amazing stock photos!

Envato Elements: One Stop Shop for Creatives and Designers

Envato Elements is a pretty young service in comparison to others out there, but it comes with Envato's trustworthy stamp. Being a product under the Australian network of specific media marketplaces, you know this service is as reliable and professional as possible.

This service picks up hundreds of thousands of graphic elements, carefully selected across the platform's various marketplaces. Vector graphics, fonts, add-ons, actions and presets, templates, 3D items, and more, are made available for download under a single use variant of Royalty Free license, to use in your projects.

Best of all is that they offer it under an “all you can eat”, unlimited downloads monthly subscription, and including access to tutorials and other additional perks. At the super affordable rate of $29 per month, you get to download as many assets as you wish, at no extra cost. Any element you download can be used in one project only, but for as long as you want and with no added fees.

So far this was a great solution for developers, designers and creatives to get multiple stock media for their projects, but was leaving out one of the most important visual resources of all: stock photos. Well, until now!

Stock photos are the key element in most designs, and while having so many options for graphics available at one place was definitely useful, many of Envato Elements' subscribers were still migrating to other sites to find photos to use in their projects.

Knowing not only the positive impact and relevance photography has in graphic design, but also the consistent growth this type of content is predicted to have in the immediate future in the creative world, they have announced that as of today, a collection of over 200,000 high quality stock photos is available within Envato Elements service. No more need to go find your photos elsewhere!

That's right. Hand-picked from their large pool of stock images available at Photodune (Envato's stock photo marketplace of which you can learn more in our dedicated Photodune review), Elements now counts with this large collection of photos in high resolution, covering most popular and sought-after topics and styles.

Being part of Elements' collection, this mean you can access to them for only $29 monthly, being able to download as many images as you like!

What Envato Elements Has for You

So, let's recap. Envato Elements is a one-stop shop for designers and creatives, offering all the complementary graphic assets you need to complete your projects easily and saving both time and money. Here's some of the highlights in their service:

Flat monthly rate: only $29 a month, cancellable at any time!

Unlimited downloads

Over 25,000 graphic assets including:

Vector graphics

Fonts

Add-ons

Actions and Presets

Templates

3D items

Over 200,000 premium stock photos

More than 1,000 tutorials and ebooks

Single Use license: each element can be used in one single project per download

Design More, Better and Faster with Envato Elements

Now that stock photos are part of the package, Envato Elements is for sure a very useful resource to get all the assets you need for your projects in one place, with a very simple (and affordable!) buying structure that grants you to never have to worry about download limits.

A great way to save time, money and hassle when looking for great stock photos to use in your designs!